Tools

"... The design of office technology relies upon underlying conceptions of human organization and action. The goal of building office information systems requires a representation of office work and its relevant objects. The concern of this paper is that although system designers recognize the centrality ..."

The design of office technology relies upon underlying conceptions of human organization and action. The goal of building office information systems requires a representation of office work and its relevant objects. The concern of this paper is that although system designers recognize the centrality of procedural tasks in the office, they tend to ignore the actual work involved in accomplishing those tasks. A perspicuous instance of work in an accounting office is used to recommend a new line of research into the practical problems of office work, and to suggest preliminary implications of that research for office systems design.

...ick Taylor's classic Scientific Management {1911) argues for the separation of planning and execution, allowing their "rational" reintegration via the systematic specification of policy and procedure =-=[7]-=-. Since Taylor, the managerial plan is treated as a principled blueprint, the procedure as the means for its realization. More recently, computer scientists working on office systems design have found...

"... Although there are thousands of studies investigating work and job design, existing measures are incomplete. In an effort to address this gap, the authors reviewed the work design literature, identified and integrated previously described work characteristics, and developed a measure to tap those wo ..."

Although there are thousands of studies investigating work and job design, existing measures are incomplete. In an effort to address this gap, the authors reviewed the work design literature, identified and integrated previously described work characteristics, and developed a measure to tap those work characteristics. The resultant Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ) was validated with 540 incumbents holding 243 distinct jobs and demonstrated excellent reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. In addition, the authors found that, although both task and knowledge work characteristics predicted satisfaction, only knowledge characteristics were related to training and compensation requirements. Finally, the results showed that social support incrementally predicted satisfaction beyond motivational work characteristics but was not related to increased training and compensation requirements. These results provide new insight into how to avoid the trade-offs commonly observed in work design research. Taken together, the WDQ appears to hold promise as a general measure of work characteristics that can be used by scholars and practitioners to conduct basic research on the nature of work or to design and redesign jobs in organizations.

"... People who are members of a group, and identify with it, behave differently from people in isolation. The way in which the behavior differs depends in subtle ways from the way in which the nature of the group is perceived, as well as its salience, and also on the way in which people perceive that gr ..."

People who are members of a group, and identify with it, behave differently from people in isolation. The way in which the behavior differs depends in subtle ways from the way in which the nature of the group is perceived, as well as its salience, and also on the way in which people perceive that group membership and observation affects the behavior of others. We study these hypotheses in a strategic experimental environment. Participants are allocated randomly to two groups (Row and Column players), and a room is assigned to each group. The salience of the group membership is manipulated by making the group present as an audience in the corresponding room, or not. We use two stage games, the Battle of the Sexes and Prisoner’s Dilemma. We show that the salience of the group affects behavior of members, as well as the behavior of people in the other group, and that participants anticipate these effects. Group membership increases the aggressive stance of the hosts (people who have their group members in the audience). The effect on the outcomes of this increased aggressive stance depends on the game: In the Battle of the Sexes, the aggressiveness of hosts leads to coordination on an efficient, alternating outcome; in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, it leads to conflict and inefficient outcomes.

...s are well-known and classic topics in a long-running debate between economics and sociology. A clear example is the alternative between the scientific-management method of the organization of labor (=-=Taylor 1911-=-) and the human-relations paradigm (Mayo 1949). Some commentary is more recent: Huntington proposes, on p. 20 of The Clash of Civilizations, the thesis that “culture and 2cultural identities, which a...

"... The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on avera ..."

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43 % of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25 % of the variance in subjective performance, 2 % in turnover perceptions, 34 % in job satisfaction, 24 % in organizational commitment, and 26 % in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9 % of the variance in subjective performance, 24 % in turnover intentions, 17 % in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18 % in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4 % in job satisfaction and 16 % in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice.

"... We discuss four key types of work interruptions-intrusions, breaks, distractions, and discrepancies-having different causes and consequences, and we delineate the principle features of each and specify when each kind of interruption is likely to have positive or negative consequences for the person ..."

We discuss four key types of work interruptions-intrusions, breaks, distractions, and discrepancies-having different causes and consequences, and we delineate the principle features of each and specify when each kind of interruption is likely to have positive or negative consequences for the person being interrupted. By discussing in detail the multiple kinds of interruptions and their potential for positive or negative consequences, we provide a means for organizational scholars to treat interruptions and their consequences in more discriminating ways. Management scholars and practitioners generally define interruptions as incidents or occurrences that impede or delay organizational members as they attempt to make progress on work tasks. Therefore, they typically think of interruptions as disruptive for organizational members. Grove, for example, describes the unexpected visits that managers experience routinely as &quot;the plague of managerial work &quot; (1983: 67). Similarly, Perlow (1999) proposes that the frequent coworker interruptions experienced by software engineers lead to &quot;a time famine&quot; wherein the engineers are plagued by the sense of having more job responsibilities than the time in which to do them. Even the way organization members typically define interruptions (e.g., as something that breaks continuity [Webster&apos;s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary]) has negative undertones. Such negative perceptions notwithstanding, interruptions are ubiquitous in organizational life, and they occur frequently, in a variety of ways and forms. For example, unexpected meetings and conversations throughout the day interrupt the work patterns of managers, thwarting opportunities for extended, isolated periods

...practice that addresses the mastery of timing and scheduling in order to increase output, time management proponents advocate that individuals and organizations minimize the occurrence of intrusions (=-=Taylor, 1911-=-). A time mcmnqement perspective suggests that intrusions are disruptive for a person performing work tasks to the extent that the intrusions occur frequently, are unexpected, and consume long spans o...